


secret

by 4wholecats



Series: Whumptober 2020 [6]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Pre-Canon, Stabbing, Whumptober 2020, mentioned canon-typical racism against branded people, prompt: get it out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27035836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4wholecats/pseuds/4wholecats
Summary: Gawain’s eyes flicked downward, to the place where the rapier stuck out from his squire’s stomach, like a needle in a pincushion.“What the fuck, Zelgius? Were you going to just let me talk until you died?”
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Whumptober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959316
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	secret

Zelgius hissed like a beast when the sword entered his gut, running him through before slicing through the back of his tunic; blade wet with blood. He jerked the reins of his horse without thinking, the animal rearing up and kicking his attacker squarely in the face. The hoof crushed the man’s nose and jaw inwards as if he were made of soft clay; the skin tore instantly to reveal the red, pulsing mess of muscles on the inside, beard yanked off by the nails in the horse’s shoes. He fell to the ground dead as Zelgius did his best to calm the animal; one hand on it’s mane, the other on the hilt of the weapon threatening to slice him to ribbons from the inside. 

He had been stabbed before. Badly. Many times. 

One of his first memories was slicing his hand open on a sharp piece of farming equipment when he was four; only by the mercy of his sister did he survive that ordeal. He still remembered the dejected face of his mother when she realized that it wouldn’t kill him. A coward, thankfully. Far too timid to save them both the trouble and get rid of him herself. 

She would probably smile, if she could see him now. 

He looked around the battlefield wildly for a healer, the sounds of clashing metal and shouts slurring together in his mind. He didn’t see any white robes, but he did see the familiar yellow cape of the captain, approaching from out of the grey that was creeping into his vision.

“We’re nearly done here, I think,” Gawain, one of Daein’s Four Riders, spoke casually, not yet noticing what had happened mere feet away from where he was fighting. “Rostislav can take care of the stragglers, and then we can head back into town for the night. The inn should have enough beds.” The older man was surveying the bodies before them, grimacing at the sight of the man with the buckled face. “You really did a number on that one. Not the method I would have chosen, but-” He trailed off when he met Zelgius’s face, unnaturally pale and uncharacteristically scared.

Gawain’s eyes flicked downward, to the place where the rapier stuck out from his squire’s stomach, like a needle in a pincushion.

“What the _fuck_ , Zelgius? Were you going to just let me talk until you _died_?” he hissed, dismounting his horse and shoving his own sword roughly into its sheath. Zelgius tried to respond, but the words dissolved on his tongue as blood trickled out of his open mouth and onto the saddle. A single cough shot white-hot spikes of pain through his body as he clutched at the place where the sword jutted out of him, willing it to be steady as he shook. 

He’d had a good run, all things considered. He was what, twenty five? That was pretty good for someone on his level of… social standing, secret or otherwise. Usually, branded children were stoned to death in the street before they hit ten. This whole military stint had been played on borrowed time anyways. His horse moved under him, and as the hand that gripped the sword tightened, Zelgius realized that at some point, Gawain had unwound the horse’s reins from his fingers and was now leading them off the battlefield. 

“Sir-” Zelgius’s voice was choked and shaky, unable to get more than a word out before failing him. The sword moved slightly with every motion the horse made as more blood coated the saddle. 

“Stop talking. Just hold that sword steady and try not to move around too much. Elena’s still in the village… She’ll know what to do about this,” Gawain nudged the skittish horse up onto the road. The town was a mere few yards away; the fight had started right outside. Unlucky for the villages who’s houses had been pillaged, but very lucky for green recruits with near-lethal injuries.

Zelgius choked as his horse stopped in front of the inn, swaying forward in his seat.

“Uh,” Gawain disappeared from his line of vision before rematerializing at his side, hand outstretched. “Let’s get you inside… Here, lemme help you down. Take my hand.”

Zelgius did as he was told, grip slack against the other man’s gloves, bare palms slick with blood. Gritting his teeth, braced himself before swinging his leg off the saddle. The pain tore through him again, dissolving any strength his legs once had and sending him careening into the side of the horse. The animal whinnied in surprise as Gawain jerked his arm forward, catching his shoulder as he fell. The sword, in the shock of movement, slid back out a few inches before the captain grabbed it, holding it steady as Zelgius reeled. 

“Shit-” Gawain grabbed the limp man’s arm, wrapping it around his own neck.

“Hold,” he ordered, poking the fabric of his own shirt into the other man’s grasp. 

“Now give me your other hand,” he said, wrapping Zelgius’s weak fingers around the hilt of the weapon. “You have to keep this steady. It’s done enough sliding around as is.” 

Zelgius wondered, as he was half dragged through the back door of the inn, whether it would be a good idea to yank the sword out now. Save himself the humiliation of having his secret discovered by Gawain’s young wife. She seemed nice enough, but this was Daein. Everyone seems nice enough, until they’re throwing rocks at you. He willed his fingers to close tighter around the hilt, to grab it and pull as hard as he could, to grant himself an honorable death. He didn’t care what they did with his body, but he would like to be considered a _person_ for the last few moments of his life. His hand twitched against the rough leather in his grip, fingers refusing to close properly. 

“ _Elena!_ ” 

Too late. 

A bedroom door opened, and Zelgius lost his grip on Gawain’s shoulder, falling onto the carpet on the other side.

\---

“Is he, uh… Will he… live?” Gawain stood in the hallway facing his own door, his wife’s face peeking out from beyond. The sun was going down and he’d been trapped in the corridor for hours; shooed away after the ‘heavy lifting’ was done. She smiled at him.

“He’ll be fine. Nothing I couldn’t handle… I am a bit tired though,” she said, yawning into the crook of her elbow. The knight smiled, half in relief and half in amusement at his wife’s sleepy expression.

“I’m glad. You go ahead and take the second bed. I’ll find something upstairs,” he said, leaning closer to plant a kiss on Elena’s forehead. “Send for me if you need anything, I’ll be down right away.”

“Of course…” Elena barely suppressed another yawn. She waved at her husband as he retreated down the hallway before quietly shutting the door with a click. She wasn’t expecting her patient to wake any time soon, but she crept across the room anyways, pulling a heavy blanket over his sleeping body. 

She didn’t understand the words of the songs that the winged girl in the temple sang, but she knew the notes, and hummed them as she climbed into her own bed. She filed another secret away in the back of her mind, and allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> elena :) love her... hope she gets in feh someday


End file.
